God Speaks
So the creation of the heavens and the earth and everything in them was completed. 2 On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work. 3 And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when he rested from all his work of creation.
4 This is the account of the creation of the heavens and the earth.
When the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, 5 neither wild plants nor grains were growing on the earth. For the Lord God had not yet sent rain to water the earth, and there were no people to cultivate the soil. 6 Instead, springs came up from the ground and watered all the land. 7 Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.
8 Then the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there he placed the man he had made. 9 The Lord God made all sorts of trees grow up from the ground—trees that were beautiful and that produced delicious fruit. In the middle of the garden he placed the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
10 A river flowed from the land of Eden, watering the garden and then dividing into four branches. 11 The first branch, called the Pishon, flowed around the entire land of Havilah, where gold is found. 12 The gold of that land is exceptionally pure; aromatic resin and onyx stone are also found there. 13 The second branch, called the Gihon, flowed around the entire land of Cush. 14 The third branch, called the Tigris, flowed east of the land of Asshur. The fourth branch is called the Euphrates.
15 The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. 16 But the Lord God warned him, “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden— 17 except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.”
18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.” 19 So the Lord God formed from the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would call them, and the man chose a name for each one. 20 He gave names to all the livestock, all the birds of the sky, and all the wild animals. But still there was no helper just right for him.
21 So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. While the man slept, the Lord God took out one of the man’s ribs and closed up the opening. 22 Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib, and he brought her to the man.
23 “At last!” the man exclaimed.
“This one is bone from my bone,
and flesh from my flesh!
She will be called ‘woman,’
because she was taken from ‘man.’”
24 This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.
25 Now the man and his wife were both naked, but they felt no shame.
Source: New Living Translation: BibleGateway.com
We Respond
Reflection: Verses one through three of chapter two seem to fit better with chapter one. They report what God did on the seventh day of creation. They tell us that after the creation of mankind and declaring everything, “very good,” God ceased working. Chapter two could be thought of as the replay of a small segment of the larger video of the seven days of creation to show in detail how special humans are. Verses 4-17 tell how God shaped the man from the dust of the earth and breathed into him the breath of life so that he became a unique being made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27). It also tells of the special environment (the Garden of Eden) and the duties and responsibilities God assigned to mankind. The latter part of Genesis chapter two (v. 18-25) focuses on the creation of the female human being whom the man called “woman.” Some have said that woman is the pinnacle of God’s creation. She was taken and shaped from man’s side to be both his equal and his helper.
Prayer: Dear Creator God, thank You for modeling how important it is to rest. You even emphasized it by making it one of the Ten Commandments. * Thank You for this wonderful universe for us to live in and enjoy. Thank You for giving us the responsibility to populate it and take care of it. Thank you for creating us as males and females each with our own special features, needs, functions, and responsibilities. We are designed to both complement and compliment each other. Please help me to fulfill the role You have for me and to work alongside others to complete the masterpiece You are in the process of creating even now. For Your glory, Lord. AMEN
*Exodus 20:1-17
Action: (Ask God, the Holy Spirit, if He wants you to work on the suggestions below or something else more personal that He points out.)
- I will think through what I would need to do to take one day a week as a sabbath and rest from my work as God did.
- I will ask God to show me how to fulfill the role He has designated for me as a human being, then seek His help in carrying it out.
- I will ask God to show me how to fulfill the role He has designated for me as a man (if male), then seek His help in carrying it out.
- I will ask God to show me how to fulfill the role He has designated for me as a woman (if female), then seek His help in carrying it out.
Share: I plan to share what I’ve learned with __________.